Advice please on filling in form from LA regarding Statement process

[QueenYnci]

Going through the assessment process for a statement for the second time for my ds(5) who has ASD. Received a letter from the Special Educational Needs team at the LA today with a form to fill out (just basic details of parental responsibility and medical details). There is also a section that says "You may, if you wish, make a written statement about your childs educational needs. Please write your statement below and use extra sheets of paper if you need to do so."

Has anyone got any advice on what is expected and how much detail I should go in to. Should I be writing about the difficulties my son experiences at school or focusing more on the help he is already getting? Does it matter if it is just repeating what has been already said in the form submitted by the school?

Sorry for so many questions about such a simple matter but I just want to get it right this time around.

Go into as much detail as you can. When I did mine for ds2 and ds3 I wrote it like a report set out into sections, health, speech, language and communication, gross motor ability, fine motor ability, behaviour and then finally provision where I set out what type of help or type of approach each of them needed. it went onto 2 if not 3 pages of A4 and formed one of the appendices of their statements.

It might be useful when drafting yours if you were able to use some sort of measurable evidence ie how your ds compares to the accepted milestones or performance criteria for a 5yr old. there was something somewhere on mn recently about something Michael Gove had decreed regarding what children should be able to do before starting school. Can't find the link though

Thanks eatyourveg, that's really helpful advice and gives me more of an idea how to get started and how to lay information. I'll look up the Michael Gove thing as well as some comparisons would definately be useful.

My LA sent a template with headings which I used, something like

Early Years (from babyhood)
School or Pre-School or both
At Home
Self Care
Activities outside the home
Friendships and Relationships

It also helps if you can get hold of a copy of any criteria your LA uses for assessing children with ASD (these may not be lawful but if you compare your child to their criteria you may find he mets a lot of them). My LA don't put them on the website, but the Parent Partnership sent me a copy.